WNW Albatros D. V

[Guest Clunkmeister]

Yeah yeah yeah, working on that :-)

[ladder4boy]

The descent into AMS hell is paved with good intentions.. As i mentioned earlier, i managed to melt my PE cooling jackets trying to anneal them, so i ordered some from Master.. and while i was at it i went ahead and ordered all the stuff i was "thinking" about in my first post of this thread. The Master Barrels and the manifold from Barracudacast are in, and i'm waiting on the woodgrain decal film from Uschi and the Taurus engine stuff to arrive, then i should be good to go. All parts are cut off the sprues, cleaned up, and ready for paint, so as soon as everything arrives, i'll be back on this. I've been sidelined by work here lately, and i can't really complain about that as it's helping to pay off the holiday bills. I usually get some modeling time in when i'm at work at the fire station, but the last 2 24 hour shifts have been brutal, along with the 38 hours i managed to work in on my other job this week, so sleep has been taking priority over modeling as of late. I DID manage to start on project 2 and 3 of this group build whilst waiting for parts to arrive tho.. I know.. i'm a glutton for punishment and i never finish anything.. believe me.. the wife reminds me of that often!

 

Cheers!

Jerry

[Out2gtcha]

How many of these things you doin man?!?

 

 

 

Geez.............your going to make me dive into my late Sopwith Snipe and enter the GB even though Im already workin on my B-25.

[ladder4boy]

Update time. Worked on the master barrels for the guns tonight.

 

 

started soldering my PE about a year ago after a friend of mine showed me his way of doing it and i thought i'd share with you guys cuz i find it WAY easier and stronger than super-glue.

 

If you don't wanna know, sorry.. i'm a giver..

 

First, give up on the soldering iron. I've got 3 of them from tiny to a 1/2" tip and i can't get fast enough heat transfer to keep from either moving the part i'm trying to solder or getting a good solder joint.

 

second, tools..

 

sanding sticks, needle files, a micro brush, LIQUID flux and solder (radio shack has this as a set), exacto knives, and a mini-torch.

 

the trick is called pre-tinning the part. i take the exacto knife and shave a tiny sliver off the solder... as small as you can get. then use the micro-brush to put a little flux on the part. take the sliver and using the tip of your exacto, place it ever so gently on the edge you want to join. then, take the torch and fire it up and slowly move it close to the part. do NOT point it directly at the part or you will blow the solder off. hold it close to the part and let the indirect heat melt the solder. then, put some flux on the other side of the joint.. hold the 2 together (with tweezers please, not your fingers)... indirect heat again until you see the solder bubble and run.

 

Presto.. your done. if you didn't get a good joint, a quick swipe with a piece of 800 grit sandpaper, a little more flux, hold together and try again. if it's a big joint, i'll basically spot-weld with tiny pieces of solder along the joint making sure it's lined up along the way, then put flux over the whole joint and add some more slivers of solder and re-heat doing a little bit at a time.

 

now for a little trick i learned. don't cut your PE tabs so close to the part and use them as little tabs to keep things aligned.

 

on this barrel end, i left the tabs attached and bent them a little less than 90 degrees

 

then placed on the pre-tinned 1 piece cooling jacket (worth the price if you've ever tried to roll a cooling jacket) and hit with the indirect heat..

 

looks pretty crappy, but after a quick swipe with a polishing stick, looks like this..

 

slide the barrel into place and solder from the back side to avoid boogerin' up all that nice detail at the front..

 

add the small bottom attatchment piece, using the tweezers as a back stop. it's tempting here to put a big piece of solder in the middle and let it get the whole thing, but it works better if you use a small piece on either side to join.. indrect heat will keep the torch from blowing it out of position.

 

polish it up, super glue it onto the gun body, and super glue the sight on.. i gave up trying to solder that sucker..

 

 

practice on some scrap PE for an hour or so and it'll change your mind about soldering.

 

sorry if the pics a touch blurry.. i don't own a tripod... yet

 

hope i didn't bore ya too much..

 

cheers,

Jerry

 

[Guest Peterpools]

Jerry

The MG's look fantastic and the soldering tutorial; greatly appreciated.

Keep 'em coming

[WillScarlet]

Thanks Jerry, for the tutorial. Soldering has never appealed to me before, but I just may give it a go! BTW, I don't see that itty-bitty "U" shaped piece at the front of the MG! LOL. I gave up on mine when it went "PING" out of my tweezers!!

[ladder4boy]

Yeah.. I didn't even bother with that piece... I put it on a previous build I put it on, complete with chain and the "L" pin.. But without being 2" away with 4x magnification, you couldn't see it. Not worth the hour it takes to bend and affix it!

 

[geedubelyer]

Jerry

The MG's look fantastic and the soldering tutorial; greatly appreciated.

Keep 'em coming

Agree 100%. Superb work Jerry.

 

Are you going to paint these with Alclad II?

[ladder4boy]

Thanks guys!

 

Guy.. not sure yet. The alclad gunmetal does go over the metal beautifully, but it almost looks TOO good.. if ya know what i mean? almost too much like gun-blue for the scale effect? I may try to tone it down a tad with some drybrushing after and see how it goes.

 

Maru.. i don't plan on giving this one up! Just waiting on my Taurus stuff to get here from hannants, and my PE guages to get here from Airscale, and i'll be alllll over this one! i got the wood grain decal in from Grant at Arrow Wolf the other day (awesome service BTW.. 5 days from the UK to my house) and i've been playing with it to see how to paint it and wash it afterwards to get the look right before i start covering up the inside of this baby. figured not much of it'll be seen after the fuse is closed up, so it'll be a great test-bed before i do the Fee, which is quite open and visible.

 

thanks for lookin' in guys!

 

Cheers,
Jerry

[ladder4boy]

finally got some progress to report. managed to get all the stuff that goes on the inside painted and put in.. glued the fuse shut this evening so if you see something wrong, please don't tell me!

 

Engine pics..

 

i realize the cap on the oil tank is missing.. carpet monster got it.. but you can't see it with the fuse closed at all..

 

mounted in the fuse..

 

cockpit piccies..

 

I wasn't super particular about the woodgraining on the interior.. used the Uschi plywood decals for the first time in there since i knew most of it would be hidden. This was more of an experiment to get a lighter wood-grain than i got on the Gotha and play with some colors and techniques. I'm not 100% happy with the way it turned out, but i think i've got it figured out a little better so i'll be ready when i build the Fee!

 

sorry for the crappy pics with all the glare, but my camera and lighting skills are limited, and it was midnight when i took them so i wasn't in full on professional mode.

 

I DID add the throttle lever in before i closed it up.. the paint was drying on it when i was snapping pics..

Edited March 24, 2013 by ladder4boy

[ladder4boy]

Also managed to get the wings painted..

 

Tops..

 

Bottoms..

 

These pics are bad and will look much better when i get a flat or semi-gloss coat on them.. just wanted to prove i HAVE actually been workin' on this thing!. One problem i had with the decals tho.. gloss coated, used micro-set and sol.. didn't conform that well.. hit them with solva-set.. they shriveled and layed down pretty good.. second coat, same thing but i hit it with the hair dryer after about 15 minutes cuz i was getting impatient and a couple hunnard little bubbles appeared and would NOT go away. so i spent a good hour popping them all and re solva-setting them.. then had to touch up paint all the black. came out okay in the end.. just a learning experience. I'll have better pics of the wings when i get the fuselage painted and ready for final assembly.

 

thanks for lookin' in guys!

Cheers,

Jerry

[Wolf Buddee]

It's looking real nice Jerry! Love what you've done so far. The wood grain painting looks brilliant as does the work you've done on the engine. Looking forward to your continued progress.

 

Cheers,

Wolf

[ladder4boy]

Thanks Wolf! Your work and the work of the others in this GB sets such a high standard that it's pushing me to better my skill set on this one! It's been a fun build so far.. I just have so much going on at work that I haven't had a chance to get in the "zone" on this one and have a day to spend a couple hours focusing on it. Hopefully this weekend will give me a chance to get the fuse painted and start the final construction!

 

Thanks for looking in

 

Cheers,

Jerry